Donges



June 1960 H. DaNGEs 2,939,482

REGULATOR DEVICE FOR GAS BURNERS Original Filed March 8, 1952 INVENTO REGULATOR DEVICE non GAS BURNERS Hans Donges, Remscheid, Germany, assignor to Johann Vaillant: Kommanditgesellschaft, Remscheld, Germany Continuation of'application ser. No. 27'5,555,-Mar. 8, gg3i58This application Dec. 16, 1955, Ser. No.

'5 Claims. c1. 137-61419) This invention relates to a regulator'device forgas burners, and, in particular, for those applied in gas water heaters. This application is a continuation of co-pending application Serial No. 275,555, filed March 8, 1952, now abandoned.

An object of the present invention is the provision, in combination with a control cylinder for automatically more or less closing the gas orifice, of a valve for the gas supply which is out of the path of the gas stream passing through said orifice, as controlled by said cylinder, and thereby avoiding an undesired dissipation of pressure due to various automatically adjusted positions of the regulator device. By means of the present invention, both a controlled cylinder and a valve may be inwrporated in the same unitary regulator device so as to promote both efilciency and safety.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description, taken together with the accompanying drawing showing an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing, the casing 1 houses a portion of a gas supply pipe 3, one end of which, within the casing 1, is closed at its lower end by a bottom 2. The casing 1 also houses the regulator parts and valve parts next described, which are mounted on the lower end of the supply pipe 3 that is within the casing 1.

In accordance with the present invention, a disc 4 in the form of a somewhat flat annulus is fixed to the top of the cylinder 5 which constitutes the control cylinder and which is sleeved on the lower end of the pipe 3 above its bottom 2 and in freely sliding relation to the pipe. In the pipe 3, above its lower end, is a control orifice and in the present instance there are a number of such control orifices indicated at 6, 6', and 6", each of which orifices is here shown as a triangularly. shaped opening in the supply pipe 3 in the vicinity thereof which is just above the lower end of the pipe that is surrounded by the control cylinder 5 and disc 4. The disc 4 is discontinued at its periphery so as to leave an annular slot or opening 7 between the disc and an inverted cup 8 that is also Within the casing 1 and is here shown fixed on the pipe 3, within the casing, above the orifices 6, 6 and 6", the annular slot or opening 7 serving a purpose later described.

In the upper wall of the inverted cup 8 is an aperture 9 at one side of the pipe 3, that is arranged to be more or less closed by a leaf spring 11 suitably secured as at 11a on the upper wall of the inverted cup 8, adjacent the pipe 3 and spaced from the aperture 9, and having its free end in the vicinity of the aperture overlying the latter but normally biased away therefrom. The degree to which the spring 11 partially closes the aperture 9 is controllable by a set-screw 10 located in the upper wall of the casing 1, having its inner end pressing upon the free end of the spring 11 and having at its outer end a knurled thumbpiece by which the screw may be turned and thereby adjusted.

Just above the orifices 6, 6' and 6", in the supply pipe 3, the valve seat 12 is provided, which is adapted to cooperate with a valve disc or valve head 13 fixed on the lower end of a valve stem 15 that at itsupper end,

is in contact with a bimetallic heat responsive element 16, the valve stem 15 contacting the free end of the element 16, the other end of the latter being fixed-on the,

gas burner 19 which is in communication'with the gas supply pipe 3. A bearing or guide 18 in the burner 19- in which the valve stem slides up and down directs the valve stem 15 into contact with the free end of the bimetallic element 16, the latter being so disposed as to beunder the influence of the pilot flame 17 for the gas burner.

In the lower end of the gas supply pipe 3, below. the orifices 6, 6', and 6", is located a compression coil spring 14 supported at its lower end by the pipe bottom 2, and at its upper end, in turn, resiliently supporting the valve head 13 with its valve stem 15.

Operation of the device is as follows:

The gas, entering the casing 1 through its lower end, passes partly inside and partly outside of the inverted cup 8. The gas which passes directly into the inverted cup 8 passes through the annular opening 7 between the cup and the disc 4 and through the orifices, and valve 13 being open, into the burner. Since the annular opening 7 is restricted as here disclosed, the gas passing directly into the inverted cup 8 tends to lift the disc 4 and with it the control cylinder 5, but this lifting tendency is counteracted by the gas which passes outside of the inverted cup 8, that is between the vertical wall of the cup and the wall of the casing 1, until the latter gas can then enter the inverted cup 8 through the aperture 9. Thus the disc 4 and with it the control cylinder 5 is under pressure, both below and above the disc 4, of the gas passing through the casing and pipe and into the burner, the disc 4 and control cylinder 5 being thus suspended in the gas stream. By regulation of the set-screw 10, a pressure differential below and above the disc 4 may be regulated to raise or lower the disc 4, and with it the control cylinder 5 to more or less close the orifices 6, 6' and 6". As the disc and cylinder are raised in the gas stream, the orifices are correspondingly reduced in effective size, and vice versa. When the valve 13 is open, under the influence of the bimetallic element 16 pressing downwardly against the action of the spring 14, as shown in the drawing, the valve is always in the lower end of the pipe 3 and at this time is below the upper end of the control cylinder 5 and below the disc 4, since the latter are normally above the lower end of the pipe 3 inwhich the spring 14 is bottomed. If the pilot flame 17 be extinguished by any cause, the bimetallic element 16 will cool and flex to permit the valve stem 15 and with it the valve 13 to rise, under the influence of the spring 14, to seat the valve on the valve seat 12 and thereby cut off the gas supply to the burner 19.

So constructed and arranged, in accordance with the present invention, the valve 13 is out of the path of the 'gas stream, and the gas stream in passing through the cup 8, either through the opening 7 or the aperture 9, up to the burner 19, does not impinge upon the valve 13 and thus the valve advantageously does not contribute any resistance to the flow of the gas.

Desirably, in order to counteract the friction, if any, of the control cylinder 5 on the supply pipe 3, the disc 4 is here desirably shown of turbine-like character, having the vanes 4a on its upper face, the eliect of the gas stream being thereby to rotate the disc 4 and with it the control cylinder 5 and thus maintain the efliciency of operation of the latter.

The invention having been described, what is desired 2(1) be secured by Letters Patent is set out in the appended Invention is claimed as follows:

1. In a combined gas pressure regulator and control valve adapted for installation in a gas supply pipe and including a housing having a gas inlet in the lower portion-thereof, a vertical burner supply pipe extending down into said housing and having the bottom end thereof closed, a valve seat arranged in said burner supply pipe and spaced above the closed end thereof, said burner supply pipe having pressure regulating orifices therein below said valve seat and spaced above the closed end of said burner supply pipe to provide gas ingress to said burner supply pipe and leaving a bottom portion of said burner supply pipe to define a dead space and provide a support for a pressure regulator mechanism, a valve stem extending down through said burner supply pipe and said valve seat and having a valve disc afiixed' to the end thereof to cooperate with said valve seat to form a gas flow control valve in said burner supply pipe, said valve disc being located in said dead space in the bottom portion of said burner supply pipe when said valve is open, and a pressure regulator floating disc sleeve valve loosely telescopically mounted upon said support formed by the bottom portion of said burner supply pipe for vertical movement thereon to adjust the extent to which said pressure regulating orifices in said burner supply pipe are open to admit gas thereinto.

2. Structure in accordance with claim 1 and including a spring arranged in the dead space within the bottom portion of the burner supply pipe to urge the valve disc upwardly toward the valve seat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,992,355 Cornelius Feb. 26, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS 727,642 German-y Nov. 7, 19'42 

